It is no surprise that San Francisco is the number one metro area for EVs, but I would have never guessed that Atlanta would be number two. It seems Georgia dealers have not taken too kindly to this EV popularity and are now petitioning the state legislature to get Tesla shut-down.

According to an article in Automotive News, The Georgia Automobile Dealers Association has filed a petition with the state dealership regulators in order to halt Telsa's operations in the state and revoke the automaker's dealer license. Tesla currently has one store in Marietta and plans on opening two more in the Atlanta metro region.

Auto dealers in Georgia are the latest seeking to shut down Tesla's factory-owned stores. The…
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The association claims that Tesla is violating Georgia state law because Tesla applied for a dealer license through a statutory exception allowing direct sales for makers of custom vehicles selling less than 150 a year. The group says Tesla doesn't qualify for the exception because it does not make customized vehicles and it sells more than 150 units per year.

"New-vehicle dealers just want a level playing field on which to complete...No one should be allowed to act as if they are above the law, especially when there is a simple path to compliance that everyone else has agreed to follow." - Bill Morie, president of the Georgia dealers association

Of course that "path to compliance" means opening franchised dealerships. Despite Tesla's recent victories in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there are still plenty of states that are not hospitable to the automaker.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

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